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Notley, Kenney go head to head in Alberta Legislature after reveal of provincial reopening plan

CALGARY — Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley responded to the provincial government’s reopening plan on Wednesday afternoon.

Both Notley and Kenney went head to head in the Alberta Legislature, with Notley asking Kenney to table the scientific evidence he used to come up with the plan.

RELATED: Patios, hair salons to reopen next week, all restrictions to be lifted by summer, Kenney announces

“The framework for ‘Alberta’s Open Summer’ comes from the public health advice we have received from (Dr. Deena) Hinshaw and her team at Alberta Health following careful analysis of the impact of vaccination and other measures in jurisdictions right around the world,” Kenney said in his defense.

Notley then pointed to other provinces such as B.C., Quebec, and Ontario, using their vaccination thresholds as an example as to why Alberta’s plan seems too quick.

“Ontario has indoor dining with restrictions not until the very end of July. Here? Wide-open, no restrictions a month or more earlier,” Notley said. “Quebec’s limit on festivals don’t lift until the end of August. Here, it’s the end of June.”

Kenney then accused the Alberta NDP of not being committed to scientific evidence, but rather their “ideological desire to lockdown this society as they have been from day one.”

Kenney then said it would have been a disaster if the NDP was in power during the pandemic.

Notley countered the Premier saying, contrary to his beliefs, they do not want the pandemic to go on forever, but they want to avoid a round four of Kenney “sprinting us into another wave because his political vulnerability is more important than the vulnerability of our health system.

READ MORE: Alberta identifies 390 new COVID-19 cases, active cases drop below 11,000

“This does not look like an evidence-based plan, it looks like the Premier is working backwards from the Stampede.”

Kenney again referred to other areas around the globe that have similar reopening plans and where they are now.

“The real question is, why does the NDP want to prevent Albertans from having their normal lives back from having a great summer.”

On a Facebook Live on Wednesday evening, Kenney was again asked about his response to the pushback from the Alberta NDP, in which he doubled down on his defense from earlier in the day.

WATCH: Premier Jason Kenney heads to Facebook Live to answer questions following the reveal of his government’s reopening plan. 

“They’ve been one of the most hardcore, lockdown parties in the country and so I’m not surprised that today in the Legislature they were already trying to scare people about a fourth wave and this is too soon, and we can’t have our freedoms back.

“All I’ll say is this: Look at Israel, look at Britain, look at Texas, look at Florida, look at all of the United States. Their numbers are plunging while they’ve lifted their restrictions. Why? Because they have population protection through a mix of antibodies from natural immunity and vaccines.”